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Sea level rise quickens as Greenland ice sheet sheds record amount:
Greenland's massive ice sheet saw a record net loss of 532 billion tonnes last year, raising red flags about accelerating sea level rise, according to new findings.
That is equivalent to an additional three million tonnes of water streaming into global oceans every day, or six Olympic pools every second.
Crumbling glaciers and torrents of melt-water slicing through Greenland's ice block—as thick as ten Eiffel Towers end-to-end—were the single biggest source of global sea level rise in 2019 and accounted for 40 percent of the total, researchers reported in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
[...] "2019 and the four other record-loss years have all occurred in the last decade," lead author Ingo Sasgen, a glaciologist at the Helmholtze Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, told AFP.
The ice sheet is now tracking the worst-case global warming scenario of the UN's climate science advisory panel, the IPCC, noted Andrew Shepherd, director of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the University of Leeds.
[...] Until 2000, Greenland's [runoff ...] was compensated by fresh snowfall.
[...] In 2019, the ice sheet lost a total of 1.13 trillion tonnes, about 45 percent from glaciers sliding into the sea, and 55 percent from melted ice, said Sasgen. It gained about 600 billion tonnes through precipitation.
A study in the same journal last week concluded that the Greenland's ice sheet has passed a "tipping point", and is now doomed to disintegrate, though on what time scale is unknown.
Journal References:
Ingo Sasgen, Bert Wouters, Alex S. Gardner, et al. Return to rapid ice loss in Greenland and record loss in 2019 detected by the GRACE-FO satellites [open], Communications Earth & Environment (DOI: 10.1038/s43247-020-0010-1)
Michalea D. King, Ian M. Howat, Salvatore G. Candela, et al. Dynamic ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet driven by sustained glacier retreat [open], Communications Earth & Environment (DOI: 10.1038/s43247-020-0001-2)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 23 2020, @12:07AM (7 children)
Mar a Lago is very close to losing its land connections - Card Sound road already went under during King tides in the 1980s. The cost to raise the road to the resort would be epic, it's miles and miles through the middle of nothing.
What would be nice in the summary would be a simple metric: what was the previous sea level rise estimate in mm per decade or whatever, and what is the new rise estimate after this glacier breaking news?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @12:23AM (3 children)
> The cost to raise the road to the resort would be epic,...
Shhhh. Don't tell Trump, he'll divert some more of the Pentagon budget and get the SeeBees to raise the road.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @12:24AM (1 child)
whoops, Seabees!
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 23 2020, @02:20AM
SeaBees did several projects in the Keys, back in the day... elevating miles and miles of road surface just to keep one pathetic golf club land-connected, that's almost as insane as a border wall with Mexico.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Sunday August 23 2020, @03:04PM
And get the dolphins to pay!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday August 23 2020, @12:29AM
want to bet they won't release those new metrics until after they have purchased land above the new projected water line?
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 4, Funny) by SpockLogic on Sunday August 23 2020, @01:12AM (1 child)
The only good thing for Greenland is now Trump won't want it. Trump was confused when looking at Greenland on a globe then an atlas. After an aide explained the Mercator projection to him he said "Its a lot smaller than I thought, no deal"
Funnily enough that was the exact same sentiment that Stormy Daniels had made several years prior.
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @02:44AM
Look up stations 53046, 56003, 56001.